Every sighted person has one eye that is dominant to a greater or lesser degree. However, when a first eye is overwhelmingly dominant over the second, lesser eye, problems can result such as a loss of sight in the weaker eye, crossed-eyes, diverging eyes or eye muscle imbalances. In young children, if one eye shows an overwhelming dominance, an eyeglass patch is placed over the dominant eye. This treatment forces the child to rely on the weaker eye, which results in the strengthening of the weaker eye over time. In cases where the dominant eye is overwhelming, all lines of sight to the dominant eye must be blocked, including peripheral vision, in order for the weaker eye to begin to be used and to gain strength.
Additionally, for a small child, wearing an eyeglass patch can be a traumatic experience. The child may face ridicule from peers or be treated as “different” by the public at large. These negative experiences may cause the child to remove the eyeglass patch or else refuse to put one on. Therefore, any feature which makes the wearing of a corrective eyeglass patch more desirable to a child can make the difference between the treatment of a dominant eye condition, or not.
The emergence of corrective eyeglass patches having decorative features have enhanced the desirability of wearing such a patch. Examples of these type of patches center around a theme wherein the patch is designed to block all lines of sight to the dominant eye and where the patch has decorative fabric permanently sewn to the front eyeglass lens-covering portion of the device. The device is held to the glasses by sliding the temple of the glasses between the decorative fabric and an underlying colored fabric portion. The patch of JP 2005345868 shows an eye patch comprised of an eye cup with a sewn-on decorative face. A similar sewn together decorative option is represented by Patch Pals of Hiawatha, Iowa. The corrective eyeglass patch disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,927,279 issued to Oviatt, incorporates fabric having a permanent decorative design.
The sewn versions of decorative eye patches are labor-intensive to make, thus reducing the profit potential for businesses that make them. Also, as noted previously, any feature which makes the wearing of a corrective eyeglass patch more desirable will cause the wearers, who are primarily children, to keep their patches in place. The decorative eyeglass patches just described, aid in this goal of achieving more desirability to the wearer. However, wearing the same sewn-on decorative design can become tiresome for the wearer, perhaps causing the wearer to fall back into the bad habit of removing the patch when not being supervised by adults.
Therefore, a need exists for a decorative corrective eyeglass patch which allows the wearer to interchange different designs upon an eyeglass patch, thus avoiding the problem of the wearer having to don the same tiresome design day after day. Also, a need exists for an alternative method to sewing the patch together which is less labor intensive.
The foregoing reflects the state of the art of which the inventor is aware, and is tendered with a view toward discharging the inventor's acknowledged duty of candor, which may be pertinent to the patentability of the present invention. It is respectfully stipulated, however, that the foregoing discussion does not teach or render obvious, singly or when considered in combination, the inventor's claimed invention.